Billions of users have online information leaked; here’s what you can do to stay safe

A staggering 16 billion user logins have reportedly been leaked online in what cybersecurity experts are calling a “digital tsunami.”

The leaked credentials include usernames and passwords for email accounts, social media, banking platforms, and more. But experts say this leak didn’t come from a single hack—it’s the result of years’ worth of data stolen in smaller breaches, now compiled into one massive database.

“It’s 16 billion compromised logins,” said Dan Desko, a cybersecurity expert.

“The ability to collect that much data at scale means there were some massive points of infrastructure compromised—or info-stealing malware made it to some pretty legitimate websites.”

What You Should Do Right Now

Experts recommend taking these immediate steps:

• Change your passwords, especially for any account you reuse frequently
• Enable two-factor authentication on all accounts
• Use a password manager to store and track credentials

Desko warns that hackers often use a method called credential stuffing, where they try stolen passwords on popular websites to gain access to more accounts.

“Tools will point to the top 100 common websites... and try to ‘stuff’ them in to see if it works,” Desko explained.

While the breach includes logins for Google and Gmail accounts, the company says it did not originate from a Google data breach.

In a statement to WPXI, a Google spokesperson said:

“This issue did not stem from a Google data breach. We continue to strongly encourage users to adopt more secure, passwordless authentication methods like passkeys.”

Google also recommends using its Password Manager, which not only stores your login credentials but notifies you if any have been compromised in a known breach.

Desko agreed, saying the future may be passwordless, relying more on biometrics and passkeys instead of traditional logins.

“Passwords are such an antiquated technology, but they’re everywhere,” Desko said.

“Hopefully, with new technologies and biometrics, we can move away from passwords and make this stolen data irrelevant.”

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